Blue Skies and Quilty Stuff...

There is some progress!  For everyone who bought 16 or more of my Baltimore Rhapsody patterns and are awaiting their free finishing pattern, I am SO CLOSE!  It's all done but some pattern tracing!

The good news?  Today I found the moving box containing my light box!!!!  (lots of cheering...)  The bad news?  The electrical power cord was not in the same box!!  (much hair pulling and profanity...)

I'm sure I will find the right box tomorrow...

After I have fulfilled my promise and sent out the freebies, I will have them for sale on my store site in case you want to use the elements to design a border for a quilt incorporating less than 16 of my blocks.  

There are at least 2 people that have already appliqued all 16 of their music blocks, and they are chomping at the bit for me to finish!  Drawing is a little slow with my still-gimpy finger, but I guess that situation is progressing as well, although slower than I would have hoped.

My policy of getting the house mostly moved into before the quilty stuff was touched ended today.

I started moving fabric and quilty stuff this afternoon.

I need my quilty stuff...

This summer, we unloaded two huge moving PODS about 150 feet from the house in a fairly tight RV garage.  A few days ago, I realized that the RV garage is not as "tight" as I had hoped.  There are little scorpions in there!  Son of a BITCH!

I turn over and scrutinize EVERY box and container as I pick it up!  I have killed 6 of them, IMMEDIATELY UPON SPOTTING THEM!!!  Then I thought, "oh...I should post about them...and I will once I am comfortable enough to snap a picture before doing the "Mexican Hat Dance" on their ass!  They aren't very photogenic squished into the sole of my sneaker...

Anyway, I take boxes to the house in this little Kuboto truck, which I finally cleaned out (full of leaves, tools, and going-to-the-woods-to-cut-firewood crap).  My Dad made the little red, wooden wagon back extension, so I can load quite a few boxes and containers each trip.  Then I pull around to the back of the house where there is a door into the walk-out basement.  There is just enough space to get the little truck between the pool and the back patio.

The weather is totally cooperating...dry and blue skies...too dry, really...there is a little mini drought going on in west Alabama, so the leaves aren't very colorful this year.

I went into my Mom's glass workshop today for the first time in months to figure out how to make it into a "quilt cave" in addition to keeping part of it a "shard shop."  It was hard to go in, as everything is as it was at the time of the accident...water bottle and pack of gum included.  

I keep thinking this "moving-into-their-house" thing will get easier, but it doesn't.  I did get through Dad's clothes last weekend...

There is a glass work-in-progress on her glass layout table...the over-the-door-transom for the main entrance.  I intend to learn how to do this at some point and finish this piece, and a few others for the house that she had already designed.

I will need to clean deeply, as it was a "shop" where glass and some wood was cut.  I will put some carpet down in part of it and try and consolidate the glass on one end of the room.

There is a door to the outside, which will help get some of these fixtures out and quilt book shelves, etc. in when I have it cleaned up and ready to receive stuff.  This door has no knob on the outside, so it is a secure door.

My dad put nice plywood on the walls and stained/varnished it lightly.  I think I can clean and use the huge light table Dad built (it is, I think, 48 inches square!

I will take the glass samples off the wall and store them in containers.

The room is well lit with multiple fluorescent lights, and Dad put plugs EVERYWHERE!

Dad built the large plywood storage containers with wheels for the larger pieces of glass and they will fit under the big layout table, when I figure out where to put that.

There is a sink and some cabinets on the outer wall...

There is a raised edge around the layout table dad built, so I may just cover the top of the table with heavy plywood and store the work-in-progress inside until I can cope with trying to learn how to finish it.  I can use my rotary mat on it or something.

There is a large outdoor window...

Here are 3 of her finished windows from other parts of the house...

The huge family room is just through the door and Dad's wood-working shop is on the other end of the house, along with a bar, TV area, pool table, ping pong table, wood burning stove, and two more bedrooms.  These boxes are just dent in the RV shed...SO many more to move...

I feel bad dismantling, or at least moving in with, the glass.  I know it is what she would have wanted, but still.  If their spirits are here part of the time, I am sure they are spending time in their shops...the security motion sensor in Dad's shop keep disabling the security system, so I am sure he is rooting around in there a bit...

If you are going to Houston, remember to look for my "Baltimore Rhapsody - Symphony" quilt.  It will be hanging in the "Quilts in the American Tradition" Exhibit."

I'm considering a road trip to see it...it's certainly no farther than Michigan is from here...

I have not been to the International Quilt Show in Houston since 1995...

Almost...In...Stitches...Again,
Teresa   :o)

Things are progressing...

I'm still here!  I will catch you up with my quilting, my finger, my move from Michigan to Alabama, and last but not least, the furry wonder kitty, Mr. Weasley.

First, a funny story (and cautionary tale) about the International Quilt Festival in Houston.  In the middle of all the confusion of packing and my daughter graduating from high school last spring, I decided to enter my "Baltimore Rhapsody - Symphony" into the upcoming fall festival spectacular.

I found their web site a little confusing and hard to navigate. Maybe that is because I am used to the AQS site/contests and the magnificent Andrea Ray and company who make the process very easy and user-friendly.

Anyway, somehow I entered an EXHIBIT at the show rather than the SHOW ITSELF.  I have been a 'bear of very little brain' since my parents' accident and loss in May 2014.  When I realized my mistake, I entered the show as well.  I figured I would fix things later, and really kind of thought I didn't have much of a chance of my quilt getting accepted into either group.

Well, I never heard from anyone from the contest, but I did hear from the people organizing the exhibit.  I got a nice email explaining what to do, when and where to ship my quilt, etc.  It will hang at the Festival, then travel to some other big shows around the country for a few months as a part of this exhibit, which I think is called "Quilts in the American Tradition."  

That sounded lovely and better than a sharp stick in the eye, and I felt lucky and happy to at least have it exhibited.  I did wonder why I never got a nice rejection email from the contest people...until...

...I was driving between Michigan and Alabama and got a call from Houston asking where was my quilt!  I panicked!  I had sent the quilt a week previous and had Fed Ex confirmation that it had arrived!  The call was from someone with the contest, not the exhibit, as it turned out.

My quilt, afterall, WAS ACCEPTED TO THE CONTEST! They don't send out emails telling a person this, like AQS does...I had missed the fine print  where it said to go to their web site on a certain date to see if the quilt was accepted. My jaw was on the floor of the car!  But of course, the person on the phone was pissed that I had "double booked" my quilt. Oops!

(It made me appreciate Andrea Ray and her merry band of cohorts at AQS for their organizational skills with all the many shows they put on...)

Oh well...my quilt WILL be at the show, but not IN the contest.

Second, my finger is coming along.  I can't quite bend it at a 90 degree angle, can't completely straighten it, but I am still doing home physical therapy, so I am still hopeful.  It is still swollen and I am wrapping it with compression tape a few times a day. 

Also, I am rolling a lot of "snakes" out of putty to help with the scar tissue and pain at the incision site on the underside of my finger.  The tendon had to be repaired quite a bit because the cat bite infection was actually dissolving my tendon!  The scar on top of the finger is healing fine.

Thirdly, the move is progressing.  We are in Michigan this week packing up the last annoying possessions, cleaning, and doing some painting and little maintenance stuff in anticipation of turning the house over to the realtor this evening.  Over the last month, I had a terrible bout of sciatica, so I was flat on my back and in a great deal of pain for about two weeks.  During that time, we received the shipment of the piano and the second POD at the Alabama house.  I still have a little pain in one leg, but I am upright and doing the best I can.  

I have been going through stuff in the Alabama house, getting ready to incorporate our stuff, which was unloaded from two PODS into an RV garage about 150 feet from the house.  This is going to be a slow process...

And last, but not least, the tale (and tail) of Weasley, our cat. We had to give him up, but he is happily situated with our friends and two new cat buddies.  He is fully integrated into the family and is getting along well with the two other cats.  I am sure he will enjoy his new brothers, as well as his new loving family.  I miss him terribly!  I still see him out of the corner of my eye.  I would love to go visit him, but I don't want to confuse him at this point.  Lucinda sends me updates and pictures, which reassure me, but also break my heart.  With Riley at college and Weasley in a new home, I am learning to let go...

I found a quilt store in Tuscaloosa, which is where my daughter is at college, but almost 3 hours from our Alabama home. PLEASE...tell me of quilty things in North Alabama, if you know of any.  I am going through withdrawal!

In stitches,

Teresa   :o)